5,709 Shares in Fastenal Company $FAST Bought by Phoenix Financial Ltd.

Phoenix Financial Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Fastenal Company (NASDAQ:FAST) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 5,709 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $240,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund grew its holdings in Fastenal by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 49,219 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,817,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Welch & Forbes LLC grew its holdings in Fastenal by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Welch & Forbes LLC now owns 32,992 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,559,000 after acquiring an additional 135 shares in the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 15,886 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,142,000 after buying an additional 140 shares during the period. Essex Financial Services Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc. now owns 8,870 shares of the company’s stock valued at $688,000 after buying an additional 147 shares during the period. Finally, Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Fastenal by 2.4% in the 1st quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 6,276 shares of the company’s stock valued at $487,000 after buying an additional 147 shares during the period. 81.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Fastenal

In related news, Director Hsenghung Sam Hsu purchased 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 16th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $42.45 per share, for a total transaction of $42,450.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 9,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $382,050. This represents a 12.50% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP John Lewis Soderberg sold 34,612 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.03, for a total transaction of $1,662,414.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 90,178 shares of company stock valued at $4,336,603 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FAST has been the subject of several research reports. Wolfe Research reaffirmed a “positive” rating on shares of Fastenal in a report on Monday, July 14th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $82.00 price target on shares of Fastenal in a report on Thursday, July 3rd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Fastenal in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Fastenal from $41.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. Finally, Barclays set a $45.00 target price on shares of Fastenal and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.50.

Fastenal Trading Down 1.7%

Fastenal stock opened at $42.60 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.19, a current ratio of 4.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $47.50 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $44.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $48.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.81, a PEG ratio of 3.95 and a beta of 0.94. Fastenal Company has a 52-week low of $35.31 and a 52-week high of $50.63.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last posted its earnings results on Monday, October 13th. The company reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by ($0.01). Fastenal had a net margin of 15.34% and a return on equity of 32.69%. The firm had revenue of $2.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.13 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.26 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Fastenal Company will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Fastenal Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 28th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 28th. Fastenal’s payout ratio is 82.24%.

About Fastenal

Fastenal Company, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the wholesale distribution of industrial and construction supplies in the United States, Canada, Mexico, North America, and internationally. It offers fasteners, and related industrial and construction supplies under the Fastenal name. The company’s fastener products include threaded fasteners, bolts, nuts, screws, studs, and related washers that are used in manufactured products and construction projects, as well as in the maintenance and repair of machines.